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I've been flying this kite alot lately - I think perhaps Lam should have called it Houdini!

I am continually impressed with how easily you can get out of a bad situation with this kite. Even on 80' lines, when I am working on something new - I can get fouled up and then clear it again in order to fly off while no where near the deck.

A taz gone wrong or a badly timed comete - its easy to fly right out of it. A very agile kite - flip, flop, fly, the little fearless' brother just won't die.

After getting a bit more time on the kite, I have a few more observations.First, I want to reiterate what I said before about Cascades, they are sooo nice on this kite. Super even, very repeatable and to me, exceptionally good looking too.

The kites does tricks without any unusual, elaborate or weird inputs needed. Most tricks have a enough latitude to be able to execute them without being hyper precise with the inputs. The Wap do Wap needs a little more careful timing than other tricks. Especially if you're coming off a Deep Space or similar where it's harder to miss than hit. The Comete works best with smaller quicker inputs but like all tricks varies with the wind conditions too. Overall a pretty straight forward approach to hitting everything I threw at it. It is in line with a style of kite I'm quite familiar with and like, so keep my perspective in mind when considering this kite though.

This is not a rolly polly kite. It's a tricky, pitchy kite but like the Fearless, most tricks are clean and sharp looking. Not loose and swoopy looking like can be the case on some smaller kites (and bigger kites too, I guess)

It also holds a line well so you can cruise straight across the window and very low without smackin' the deck, if you like. Cuts clean corners with smaller inputs needed. Above average for this size and type of kite.

The kite is a standard mostly 5pt framed but is so light on the lines it feels like a UL. Not trick wise but the pull wise.

Others have mentioned that it will handle pretty light wind for a standard and I agree. If the wind is nice I'd say 3mph should be OK for most people to keep it tricking. It will trick at a nice slow pace in low wind but get a bit more and it'll trick about as smoking fast as you can dish it out.

A few more observations:Holds a fade wellIt drops into the Turtle very snappily. Snap Lazies / Inverse etc. are sweet too.It'll do side ways Flic Flacs2 pop roll ups without problemBackspins look goodFor all the JL fans, yeah, sweet and crisp, repeatable for as long as you can stand itOversteer is lowLike Tom stated above, it sheds hang ups well too

The reason I qualified my perspective in the above post is I like this size / style kite the Transformer TL represents, others may not. I'm also a fan of how Lam's kites perform. When I heard Lam was making a smaller trick kite, I couldn't order one fast enough. I just want people to understand where I'm coming from. I've flown or owned quite a few 2-2.15m trick kites and I feel this kite is very good indeed when compared to the others in this class. This size of kite is small enough to toss about but big enough to maintain decent control and not get too fast or squirly. Plus, keep in mind, I've had it for less than a week and a half so I'm just adding some updates as I get more time in.

When I posted earlier, I was also thinking about negatives and there really just wasn't much that came to mind.So I'll rack my noggin hard. HMMMM.... Transformer, Why not? Lets see..... You may not want a Transformer if you / because:

Don't like deep Turtle kites.

Don't like the crisp looking trick style this kite represents.

If your style is more roll from trick to trick or you focus mainly on old school, this may not appeal to you. Then again, you may not know what you're missing either.

It is so not a Prism.

Enjoy bigger kites.

Don't like how Lam's kites trick in general.

Some similar sized kites are even quicker tricking (NFX) if that's your thing.

Don't like the look. Lam makes kites that look back at you and that may not be something that appeals to you.

If you're a hard hitter you just may never get on with it especially when the wind drops a bit. This kite takes a lighter hand for sure. I had a little trouble being consistent with the Comete for instance. For me, it just meant an adjustment but some may not like that or even want to adjust how they trick. The kite is light on the lines and some just like a more substantial pull.

A few flight negatives I've experienced:

In shifty wind I had it fall or drop out of some tricks unexpectedly.

While Flic Flacs are easy to hit they take a little care to keep them straight and looking good. Not difficult but I've seen easier.

Like I said above, I didn't Wap it well but this just may be user error too. Time will tell. Yeah it was operator error, my timing was off. I have been hitting the Wap do Wap without problems now.

Really it seems the biggest "flip side" would be this just isn't your type of kite. Others are getting time on their kites too, so as the Transformer gets more air time, I hope people post their experiences (good or bad) here. So far the good outweighs the bad for me by quite a bit.

I put more time in on the TTL this week while on on business trip. On Saturday I flew it in probably the cleanest wind I've had a chance to fly in so far and....

This is a very controllable trickster. It's been mentioned that the kite has good precision but the the tricks are clean and precise too. I was pulling off some fairly long complex combos cleanly with relative ease and they looked good too. Really, the kite does just what you ask, just think about what you want and it'll do it without getting wacky or sloppy. It's a bit pitchier than the standard Fearless but less so than the Vented.

Got the Tranformer Light TL this weekend and have these comments:Test Conditions were: 60' X 50# lines simply due to air temp was in the mid 90's (mid-morning) and had to fly near/on the shoreline; Winds: 5-6 mph with a westerly on the beach line but coming off the land; Some slight dirty spots; 3PT lower spreader (purchased also 5PT spreaders); Never flown a Fearless but flown the Tattoo about two dozen times. The Flic-Flacs being easy as mentioned before may be more accurately described as going very easy into the Flare position with much less input than with the SD-Light so over-flaring was common in the beginning. This in my opinion is by the kite design and not the smaller sized frame. The kite appears more fragile but at this point it does not fly this way. The most important item to mention with this kite I experienced is that the INPUTS required to trick are much less so someone at my age (55) can TRICK faster with LESS EFFORT than the SDs. Broken axels to Fades and then to Backspins were incredible and just starting to learn the Backspin Cascade but was able to pull off a couple of these tricks. Very forgiving. As I was flying this kite I had one thought ... Damn It ... I will need to purchase a the Standard and see what is happening here. All tricks were faster, quicker and most importantly EASIER. We have read earlier how the Fearless sits deep in the turtle but even though this kite has a large weight in the tail area I did not see this effect on this kite like the Tattoo, so to me this is more like a SD than a Fearless. Nothing like the deep turtle Tattoo. In fact JLs were smooth with no Fade entry problems and they were smooth like the Sea Devil with no adjustments needed. The only adjustment that was needed as mentioned was much less input into the flare for the Flic-Flacs. Yo-Yo's and Lewis moves had no issues. All I can say is for the older flyers out there if you think stunt kites are too much work try this BABY before going to the Dark Side. Good Luck! Thanks Lam!

I'd say the low end is similar to a Deep Space or Widow Maker. On the high end, the first weekend I had it the winds were up to 30mph but mostly in the high teens to mid twenties. I flew it in those conditions for many hours but I eventually added screens to take the edge off. I am not a high wind flier but I do it because I just can't help myself Anyway, it handled them.

DB - For me the rolls ups were like the SD - easy, quick and effortless. I was a bit worried since the Tattoo sits deep in the Turtle you need to baby the kite into the Fade section with JLs. Not at all here - SMOOTH. Again - can't say if I am flying a smaller Fearless but little or no differences with the SDs other than there is less MASS on the end of the flying lines but still STABLE with very little PULL. Over the next couple of weeks will explore further but after a one hour flight with this flying machine what new suprises other than an accelerated jump start with further trick advancements should I be worried about ... .

DB - For me the rolls ups were like the SD - easy, quick and effortless. I was a bit worried since the Tattoo sits deep in the Turtle you need to baby the kite into the Fade section with JLs. Not at all here - SMOOTH. Again - can't say if I am flying a smaller Fearless but little or no differences with the SDs other than there is less MASS on the end of the flying lines but still STABLE with very little PULL. Over the next couple of weeks will explore further but after a one hour flight with this flying machine what new suprises other than an accelerated jump start with further trick advancements should I be worried about ... .

The issues with JL or some have said with the half Lazy move to Fade on the Fearless SUL Tattoo has to do with the reduced weight of the kite and not the deep Turtle. If you get a chance to fly a std Fearless or the Light they JL like champs. Flic Flacs too. The Tattoo isn't a problem either but it needs a little more careful timing and a softer pull. Flic Flacs are doable too but the nose in the Pancake needs to be kept from going too high and then sweep it back to Fade, don't pop. These are characteristics of many SULs not just the Tattoo.

Agree and slightly disagree. I agree that ALL SULs have this symptom BUT the deep turtle nature of the TATTOO and its SUL status does make it more difficult with these moves than other SULs I have flown. The SD-SUL has no real issues with these moves since the lock-in turtle issue or high weight in the tail issue is not as pronounced. As with other kites I have flown. The TC-Ghost was the same way but with its bridle multi-adjustments I found this kite very tiresome to fly and not well thought out in its design. It does GRAB the wind very well and flies with almost the wind of the Inner Space ... but I sold it anyway ... . On the other side of the coin with this negative? you get automatic mult-lazies from one standing position, etc. Not a big deal here DB but its unquestionably kite-specific and not so much model (SUL)-specific. Its a give and take with the Tattoo. I love this kite but JLs do require a DIFFERENT touch and/or adjustment whereas the SD-SUL requires almost NONE. There is also of course the consideratiuon that once you switch kites even with the same maker your learning curve starts again to learn the kite inside/out ... so which is why I do not venture too far from the SD line so trick advancement is not hindered too much (my opinion).

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